Christmas Bread, Panettone-style

Recipe by: Cathy in Cincinnati

As promised I’m reporting on my weekend in the kitchen. I was aiming for a low-fat vegan panettone, but I had forgotten to buy the essential aniseed! Here’s what I made and it’s pretty darn good. I think I’ll call it PaneCathy.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Wait for it to proof (start to foam) then beat in the honey sub., mashed potatoes, wheat germ, and 2 cups of flour. Let it rise in a warm place for about an hour. (This is the sponge.)

If the sponge looks good and bubbly it’s ready. Add the salt and spices and another two cups of flour. If you’re kneading by hand, turn out onto a lightly floured surface to knead in the final cup of flour. The dough is rather soft and sticky-try not to add too much additional flour. In the last five minutes of kneading add the fruit and nuts.

Place the dough in a large very lightly oiled bowl, turning it once to oil the top. (This is just enough to keep the dough from drying out.) Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rise for 4 hours to overnight.

Shape the refrigerated dough into two or three round loaves and place on one or more large flat pans. Preheat the oven to 350F while the loaves warm and rise for 40 minutes. (Traditionally an “X” is cut in the top of each loaf just before it goes in the oven. I found the dough a little too soft to do this very well.) Bake for at least an hour until well-browned.

Recipe analysis based on thirty slices per recipe: with walnuts: 141 calories per slice, 14% of calories from fat; without walnuts: 128 calories per slice, 7% of calories from fat.

P.s. Finding out that measly half-cup of walnuts brought the fat up to 14% was a real eye-opener.

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